BOSTON (WHDH) - Thousands of people gathered at two Boston-area demonstrations Monday, one to show solidarity with Israel and the other in support of the people of Palestine after this weekend’s surprise attack by Hamas.
Thousands gathered on Boston Common Monday, to condemn the attacks and pray for those killed and taken hostage.
“This is horrific,” one person said. “It’s terrifying for everybody here who knows someone, who feels the pain.”
“We haven’t been eating,” said Edita Kaplun, describing her experience in recent days. “We haven’t been sleeping.”
Kaplun has family members and friends in Israel.
“All my friends are texting me, I’ve been checking in with them every day,” Kaplun said. “And, when you don’t hear back from your friends for even an hour, you just kind of freak out and worry that something could have happened to them.”
Religious and community leaders spoke during Monday’s gathering in Boston, affirming the city’s connection to Israel.
“Boston stands with Israel,” one leader said.
“When the Boston Marathon was bombed 10 years ago, the MGH emergency teams had been trained by Israeli counterparts on how to respond to mass casualties,” said Gov. Maura Healey. “That training saved lives in Massachusetts.”
Massachusetts’ congressional delegation has been calling for the federal government to do more.
On Monday, though, emotions were running hot when Sen. Ed Markey seemed to call for an end to the violence.
“There must be a de-escalation of the current violence,” Markey said.
Markey’s comments were met with boos.
A short time later, there was a different response from Congressman Jake Auchincloss.
“De-escalation is not possible when they are taking hostages,” Auchincloss said. “And Israel did not ask America to de-escalate on Sept 12th, 2001.”
Meanwhile, in Cambridge, hundreds gathered in support of the Palestinian people caught in the ongoing conflict.
Organizers said they condemn the killing of innocent civilians on both sides of the war and are mourning the lives lost.
“It’s been too much,” said one person supporting Palestine, Naureen Mowla. “We’ve watched time and time again where there’s no voices heard on one side and you only get one side of the story. So, we want people to know out here that Palestinian lives matter as well.”
The rally and march on Monday drew in students, community members and minority leaders.
“I feel that what’s been happening to them for decades is horrific — having their land stolen from them, being put in the largest open-air prison in the world in the Gaza strip where they’re fenced in,” said event attendee Mahpowin Monroe.
Many in Cambridge were talking about what is called the Nakba, when Palestinians were forced from their homeland in 1948. Palestinians have lived in displacement ever since.
The United Nations agency created to serve those displaced people now says there are 5.9 million registered Palestinian refugees with more than 1.5 million living in refugee camps.
Those living in Gaza have been under a blockade for 16 years.
“It has been blocked from access to basic necessities and under, essentially, no condition that any human being should be made to live under,” said Jeff Rosenberg of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Tensions were high along Massachusetts Avenue near Cambridge City Hall Monday, with Cambridge police keeping Palestinian and Israeli supporters on opposite sides of the street. Hundreds on the Palestinian side soon marched through Cambridge, moving from City Hall, though Central Square and over to MIT.
Speaking with 7NEWS, people in the area said said this decades long conflict has now reached a critical point.
“Ultimately, any sort of solution needs to require clear dignity and respect for the rights of all people living in Palestine and ensuring that they’re able to determine their own destiny,” Rosenberg said. “Right now, they’ve been denied that for generations.”
Despite high tensions in Cambridge Monday, police said they did not have any reportable arrests related to the rally and march.
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